Re: (teach) proficiency versus achievement testing

One problem with testing only what has been taught is that the learner with a higher vocabulary and a higher level of English can use what has been taught in a

Message 1 of 4
, Aug 31 4:35 PM

0 Attachment

One problem with testing only what has been taught is that the learner
with a higher vocabulary and a higher level of English can use what
has been taught in a far more effective way than the weaker student.
The higher level student can can, with their wider vocabulary,
integrate the taught items and comment on them, bringing in a wider
world and dealing with the topic in a far more sophisticated manner.

Both students have learned exactly the same material from the course.
Which gets the higher mark?

Dick Tibbetts

foreigner@asia.com

... Yes. ... This is why single assessments conducted at, or close to, the end of some course are not as effective for validating individual student

Message 2 of 4
, Sep 1, 2006

0 Attachment

> From: fshdt <tibbetts@...>
> learner
> with a higher vocabulary and a higher level of English can use what
> has been taught in a far more effective way than the weaker student.

Yes.

> From: fshdt <tibbetts@...>
> Both students have learned exactly the same material from the course.
> Which gets the higher mark?

This is why single assessments conducted at, or close to, the end of some
course are not as effective for validating individual student performance.

The only way around this as far as I know is to evaluate performance in
an on-going manner, pre-testing to set the baseline; ongoing testing to
monitor learning advances or difficulties; and post-testing to measure the
degree of improvement above the initial baseline. Assessment feedback then
should be more closely related to actual individual performance.

Having said that, most schools prefer a graded mark, either as a number or
letter. As such, assessment tools need to integrate the perfomance criteria
and the key indicators with some form of scoring system.

"Who gets the higher mark?" In end effect the person who demonstrates the
most consistant improvement throughout the program should get the higher mark.

Some higher level ability students tend to slacken in their application to
their studies, especially if they feel that it is easy for them. Unfortunately,
unless a lesser student makes stunning advancement (I have seen this happen)
the more linguistically skilled student will always draw the higher mark,
especially if they happen to be the 'star pupil' of the school.

Tsc Tempest wrote: The only way around this as far as I know is to evaluate performance in an on-going manner, pre-testing to set the baseline; ongoing

Message 3 of 4
, Sep 1, 2006

0 Attachment

Tsc Tempest wrote: "The only way around this as far as I know is to
evaluate performance in an on-going manner, pre-testing to set the
baseline; ongoing testing to monitor learning advances or difficulties;
and post-testing to measure the degree of improvement above the initial
baseline. Assessment feedback then should be more closely related to
actual individual performance."

What test did you use? What was the degree of change from the beginning
to the end of the course?